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Memorize - Episode 55
00055 Dungeon Of Alchemist(2)
Despite a considerable amount of time passing, we were able to move without any interference. As we entered deeper into the Pitch-black Forest, the dark blue color of the leaves and undergrowth seemed to gradually fade. It was evidence that we were passing through the middle section of the forest to some extent. Since we had significantly increased our marching speed compared to yesterday, it seemed we would be able to cross the middle section faster than expected.
"This is strange. I'm sure I met a lot of monsters in my dream today."
"Huff huff. They say dreams are usually the opposite, right? Oppa. Sorry, but can we rest a bit? It feels like half a day has passed already, and we haven't rested once."
Ahn Hyun tilted his head puzzledly. Yoo-jung was panting. Ahn Sol didn't say anything, but her face was pale, and her lips showed signs of being bitten several times. They all followed without complaint, but it seemed they had been holding back until now. Feeling the need to take a substantial rest at this point, I nodded and briefly stopped walking to look around. As soon as I gave permission, I heard the sound of bottoms plopping onto the ground.
The caravan's traces were clearly still present. The fact that there were almost no monsters could suggest that the distance between us and the caravan was gradually decreasing. It's possible that the caravan that went ahead had already dealt with the monsters. However, two questions arise here.
If they had information about the alchemist's dungeon, was there a need to deal with all the surrounding monsters as they went? And if they did deal with the monsters, why were there no corpses to be seen? Of course, these questions are based entirely on my perspective, so I could make plenty of open-ended guesses.
After pondering for a while, I licked my lips and cleared my mind. Thinking about it now wouldn't yield any answers. The conclusion was to follow this caravan's traces and reach the alchemist's dungeon as quickly as possible. In the worst case, they might not have captured the dungeon but just entered it, but judging from my memory and various circumstances, the chances of success were higher than failure. Moreover, we didn't have much to lose. If we thought of it as simply gaining battle experience, there was nothing to lose anyway.
As I was organizing these complex thoughts and about to take a rest myself, I could hear a small commotion from the kids who were already seated. Wondering what was going on, I turned my head to see Ahn Sol sending me a look asking for help with an awkward face.
"Why are you curious about useless things? Just take care of yourself."
"Are you crazy? Don't you know the saying 'knowledge is power'? You ignorant fool."
"There is a saying that knowledge is power. But it doesn't suit you when you say it. For you, ignorance might be bliss."
"What did you say?"
Ahn Hyun and Yoo-jung were having a heated argument. Observing the situation briefly, it seemed to be about the current hot topic - the Golden Lion Clan and the Steel Mountains expedition. Considering the current reality, I sympathized with Ahn Hyun's words, but I thought it might not be bad to talk to the kids about it once.
"Idiot. Do you think we're qualified for an expedition with our current skills? We'd just be ignored and left sucking our thumbs, watching from the sidelines."
"Who said what? I'm just curious why they're so desperate to go on an expedition or advance. Why are you talking like that?"
"I told you. It's because you're curious about useless things. What did you hear from Su-hyun hyung? Let's focus on our current situation, okay? Or are you perhaps feeling inferior to Kim Han-byeol?"
"What? You've gone too far now, you..."
As the atmosphere started to turn nasty, I casually stepped in and sat down with a thud. Yoo-jung, who was about to spew curses, saw me and hurriedly closed her mouth with a startled face. Ahn Hyun was also scratching his cheek, avoiding my gaze. I stared at them both for a moment before speaking in a calm voice.
"There's no problem with being curious. Information is as good as life in the Hollow Plane. Of course, it would be a problem if you asked out of simple curiosity or wanting to participate in the expedition."
Hearing my words, I could see Yoo-jung's face brighten. She probably thought I was taking her side. Ahn Hyun clicked his tongue and pouted, immediately becoming sullen. Yoo-jung flashed a smug smile for a moment, then looked at me and opened her mouth.
"Oppa. What exactly are the Steel Mountains that everyone's making such a fuss about? Every user I occasionally saw at the inn was talking about nothing but that."
I gathered my thoughts for a moment before answering Yoo-jung's question.
"Currently, the Hollow Plane is limited to the Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern continents. We need to advance to the Central Continent. To cross over to the Central Continent, it's essential to conquer the Steel Mountains."
"Then can't we just conquer it?"
"This idiot."
Ahn Hyun said what I wanted to say. I smiled bitterly at Yoo-jung's words and continued.
"If it could be conquered that easily, it would have been done already. They say there are monsters living in the mountains that are incomparable and unimaginable compared to the ones we've met so far."
"So if we cross the Steel Mountains, we can advance to the Central Continent? And what exactly is in the Central Continent?"
I had to hesitate for a moment at Yoo-jung's endless questions. However, even though Ahn Hyun and Ahn Sol pretended not to be, they also had curious expressions, so I felt the need to be careful with my words. But since we were resting anyway and it wouldn't hurt for them to know this much, I slowly opened my mouth.
"I don't know the details either. We'll have to see whether the Central Continent appears right after crossing the Steel Mountains, or if there's another preparatory continent. However, from what's currently known, I've heard it's been confirmed through ancient documents that there's a major city called Atlanta in front of the Northern Continent. Although it's just ancient documents, users are rushing in with their eyes blazing at the mention of a new major city."
"Atlanta... what's good about occupying a major city? Can we go home if we conquer it?"
"No. Nobody knows that. But... before that, let me ask you one thing. Yoo-jung. What do you think is the most important thing for an individual to survive in the Hollow Plane?"
Yoo-jung closed her eyes to think at my question, then answered while twirling her finger in her hair.
"Strength. Ability. Ability scores."
"That's right. In other words, individual ability is the most important. Having strength doesn't guarantee survival, but it's true that the possibility of survival is higher, right?"
"Mm-hmm. So can the users who obtain Atlanta gain strength?"
I continued speaking as I watched Yoo-jung nodding.
"Similar. The Northern Continent is gradually reaching saturation. The dungeons a continent has aren't infinite. Most expeditions have already been carried out. Of course, Mule was discovered recently, but due to various reasons like the Steel Mountains and small cities, there's relatively less interest. Once the stabilization of various cities including Mule is complete, there will literally be nothing left to do afterward. We can only hunt monsters that appear occasionally. The same goes for other continents. Then, even the users of the fully developed and saturated Northern Continent will no longer be able to increase their strength and abilities. It's unclear if we can return home, and no one knows what will happen if we don't have strength. Moreover, we can't nurture new users who arrive and could potentially become combat forces."
Although I spoke at some length, it still felt insufficient. I cleared my throat once and continued speaking, looking at the kids who were focusing on my words to a frightening degree.
"So if we manage to cross the Steel Mountains and pioneer Atlanta, we'll secure a foundation with room for new development. New monsters, new expeditions, new dungeons, new equipment, and so on. Above all, while we might be able to raise our ability scores relatively easily now since they're comparatively low, I've heard that once you reach the limit later, it becomes excruciatingly difficult to increase them. I heard that when they pioneered the major city Barbara a few years ago, all the users who participated in the pioneering had their ability scores increased to some extent as an achievement reward. They also monopolized all the expeditions with juicy rewards. That's why they're desperately trying to cross the Steel Mountains."
Of course, there are more mountains to climb after conquering Atlanta. At that time, we'll really have to compete with users from other continents. The new continent called Atlanta, Ragnarok, and others surrounding the major city Terra in the Central Continent. And the sacrifices made to obtain the Zero Code within Terra. I suddenly felt goosebumps remembering all this.
As I finished speaking, all the kids looked at me with dumbfounded faces. Their mouths were wide open, suggesting they were quite shocked. Soon, Ahn Hyun, who had been blinking his eyes, came to his senses and spoke in a slightly urgent tone.
"H-hyung. Then wouldn't it have been better for us to stay in the major city? Ah. Of course, I'm not doubting your choice. But hearing you talk like that, the benefits seem truly enormous. If we had built up our skills to some extent in the major city Barbara and participated even as the lowest members of an expedition team..."
"That's right. How arrogantly must that Kim Han-byeol be thinking of us now? Augh. Just thinking about it makes me angry."
In the end, it was about Kim Han-byeol. Ahn Hyun and Yoo-jung showed signs of wavering, but only Ahn Sol was looking at me with unwavering eyes. Her gaze was full of trust, seeming to believe in me unconditionally after what happened this morning. I was worried she might become what people commonly call a fanatic, but on the other hand, I also felt an inexplicable sense of expectation.
I cleared my throat briefly to quiet the kids.
"Ahem. As I said before. Ah. If you listen to the instructors from clans other than the Golden Lion Clan at the User Academy, they think it's foolish to go on an expedition now, and to participate in one. At least in my opinion. Of course, I can't be certain, but I think I can trust their words more."
The kids' faces showed some relief at my words, but their wavering hadn't completely subsided. Honestly, I felt a bit frustrated. If only I could tell them how that expedition team gets utterly destroyed, and how the Golden Lion Clan collapses miserably and gets cursed afterward. I could only sigh inwardly, but to make the kids understand, I needed a convincing rationale, so I had to continue explaining. Still, I needed to create at least a minimal smokescreen.
"Sigh. Listen carefully. This is just my opinion, so don't take it too seriously. It seems the Golden Lion Clan thinks the Northern Continent has been stabilized to some extent, so they're hurriedly preparing for an expedition. But from my perspective, it's not at all the case."
"Oppa. But is this stabilization thing absolutely necessary before an expedition is possible? Even if it's a bit risky, if they succeed, it's a huge win, right?"
"That's true. The problem is that the stakes in this gamble are the lives of the users."
When I mentioned the word 'lives', Yoo-jung immediately closed her mouth. The atmosphere seemed to have become considerably heavier than before.
"I read the records of when they conquered the major city Barbara out of interest. The first emotion I felt after reading was desperation. If Barbara was like that, how easy do you think Atlanta, which is above it, will be? I don't think it will be. To succeed in the Steel Mountains expedition, they need to saturate the continent they currently control. They can only think about an expedition after perfectly saturating it, extracting the maximum power they can currently produce, and securing a certain number of new users. The Northern Continent is in the process of reaching saturation, but it's not saturated yet. Just looking at Mule where we are, you can think the expedition is still premature. There will be many people who think like that. It seems the Golden Lion Clan still hasn't come to their senses even after seeing what happened to the previous Lord... tsk."
"Huh? The previous Lord?"
I realized I had made a slip of the tongue. Fortunately, I had already set up a smokescreen about reading records, so a way to gloss over it came to mind, but I thought I should be more careful with my words in the future. I composed myself after being momentarily surprised and looked at Ahn Hyun with a calm face, nodding.
"They say he's the figure who made the most distinguished contributions to conquering the major city Barbara. You guys probably heard about him a few times at the User Academy too? It's amazing. To have founded the Golden Lion Clan, currently called the best clan, and accumulated such achievements with just a general swordsman class."
Seeing the kids nodding at my words, I could finally feel relieved.
"They say that before conquering Barbara, the Hollow Plane was based in the western general city Halo and the small cities Beth and Dorothy. They tried to conquer the major city Barbara after stabilizing the eastern cities to some extent, but in the end, he died unable to heal the wounds received then."
"They say if that person was still around, we would have already entered Atlanta and more."
Bullshit. I barely managed to hold back the word I almost blurted out. In reality, entering Atlanta only happened after the dissolution of the Golden Lion Clan and several civil wars. While it's true that he pioneered Barbara, there was no guarantee anywhere that he could have conquered the Steel Mountains even if he had lived.
Anyway, to survive in the Hollow Plane, not only individual strength but also knowledge in various areas was important. Although we took a rather long rest, I thought it was a beneficial time for the kids, so I dusted off my bottom and stood up.
"Anyway, this is roughly the situation, so just keep it in mind. We don't have the qualifications or meaning to participate in the current expedition, so just forget about it cleanly. Now we just need to do what we can do."
This time, Ahn Hyun looked at Yoo-jung with a triumphant face. Yoo-jung nodded with a sulky face and stood up following me. It was almost time to use the Third Eye. If my prediction was correct, we should be able to discover the alchemist's dungeon within 1-2 days.
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